Thumb Printed Hearts

This project was simple and lots of fun to do! We made some colorful (and very personalized) heart wrapping paper!! To make your own, all you need is an ink pad and some freezer paper or white craft paper. Emily had lots of fun, and has plans for more art projects with the ink pad later this afternoon! (She won’t have to twist my arm.)

We used this Melissa and Doug Rainbow Stamp Pad, and it worked very well — the colors are vibrant, and the ink washed off easily with a baby wipe when we were finished. Very little clean up!

Emily made the hearts by using her thumb prints — a quick and very easy project to do! We especially loved that the ink dried very quickly! All these hearts kept her happily occupied for a long time.

We wrapped up our Valentine’s Day gifts and added a pretty bow! Simple, festive, and very frugal!!

I’ve done this with my first graders They had a lot of fun with it last year.

You could also make “love bugs” using recycled egg cartons. Take a cardboard egg carton and cut apart the cups. Paint each cup red, then when it’s dry, put black dots on it. Punch a hole on one end and put a short black pipe cleaner through the hole. Twist it so it will stay in the hole and you have yourself a little “love bug”!

Love the idea, but it did not work very well with a 2 year old and paint. I’m sure the grand’s will love them anyhow, but it’s definitely more blob then heart for us. Next time (when she’s a little older) we’ll try to get some ink pads so it will work better.

[…] :::It’s no secret that I love the Frugal Family Fun Blog. The title has so many of my favorite words! There are loads of Valentine ideas there. Just two great examples of the funness and the frugalness are the paint chip Valentines and thumb printed hearts. […]